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Hiring Activity In The Media Sector In Sep-11 Is 43% Higher Than The Sep-10 Levels The Indian entertainment and media sector is one of the fastest growing sectors in the economy, and has witnessed tremendous growth in last couple of years. An analysis of the job scenario for the sector indicates that 2011 has been a good year in terms of recruitment.In Sep-11, hiring activity in the media sector was 25% above Jan-11 levels and 43% above the Sep-10 levels. The May-11 index at 1025 was at its highest point on the job index in three years. The three month moving average indices also indicate positive momentum in hiring with Sep-11 index moving up by 8% when compared to the previous month.
Source : 12-11-11 Naukri.com Compiled by Amresh Anjan
Consumer Confidence, Job Optimism Take A Dip The deteriorating economic conditions have led to a drop in optimism levels among Indians this quarter, according to a survey by market research firm Nielsen. Around 61 percent of consumers said they would put aside their spare cash in savings, compared to 54 percent in the last quarter. As far as job prospects are concerned, Indians continue to be the most optimistic globally. However, their optimism has dropped from 86 percent in the last quarter to 81 percent in this quarter.
Source : 10-11-11 Financial Express Compiled by Amresh Anjan
Easier Pay Norms Set To Boost Expat Hiring Expats from the crisis-hit euro zone may soon be able to find work in India, with the government deciding to lower the minimum annual salary required to be paid to foreign employees. Currently, foreign nationals must earn a minimum annual salary of $25,000, excluding perks, to work in India. The limit has kept out many middle-income candidates. Perquisites can now also be included in the salary for the purpose on calculating income tax. The government has also revised employment visa rules to ease expatriate hiring by companies. The power and steel sectors, which need foreign talent in large numbers for new technology projects, could benefit most. Power and steel companies have been seeking relaxations in visa norms which would enable them to recruit more expatriates at the middle and lower levels to train the domestic workforce in technology.
Source : 11-11-11 Financial Express Compiled by Amresh Anjan
India Has Seen Jobless Growth, Says Top Adviser India may have grown at over eight percent, but a top adviser has expressed concern over the "stagnant employment situation", saying the country with 40 million unemployed people witnessed "jobless growth" during the Eleventh Five Year Plan period from 2007-08 to 2011-12. "The only explanation for an almost stagnant employment situation is simply that not enough jobs are available in the economy, even with an eight percent plus growth rate," National Advisory Council member NC Saxena told in an interview."The Eleventh Five Year Plan witnessed jobless growth," he said. Mr. Saxena, a retired bureaucrat, said the government's argument that more young people are now attending educational institutions fails to explain "why there are still 40 million unemployed people in the country (according to the Current Daily Status figures of National Sample Survey Organisation 66th round), who should have got the jobs if the economy was creating them."
Source : 13-11-11 Hindustan Times Compiled by Amresh Anjan
HSBC To Keep Hiring, Opening Outlets In China HSBC Holdings PLC (HBC) will continue to invest in China by hiring new staff and opening new outlets following the U.K.-based bank's injection of capital into its China unit, a senior executive at the bank said. The hiring plans come despite the group's decision to cut 25,000 jobs globally, including 3,000 jobs in Hong Kong, by 2013 to reduce costs, and underscore its bullish views on China.HSBC Bank (China) Co. Chief Executive Helen Wong said in an interview that the bank will open a few more outlets in the world's second largest economy by the end of the year, adding to the three outlets opened in the first six months of the year. HSBC, the largest foreign bank in China, currently has 110 outlets across 29 major cities in the country.
Source : 14-11-11 Wall Street Journal Compiled by Amresh Anjan
Jet Airways Rules Out Job Losses In Cost Cutting Drive Jet Airways Ltd, India's top private carrier, said it has no plans to cut jobs in drive to save costs and instead look to non-payroll areas to streamline operations."In view of spiralling operational costs and increase in fuel prices, Jet Airways is continually looking at several non-payroll areas at cutting costs, "Jet did not elaborate on the cost cutting initiatives, but has in the past said it plans to sell and lease back aircraft as well as cut interest costs by converting rupee loans into dollar debt.
Source : 09-11-11 Indiainfoline.com Compiled by Amresh Anjan
Working Women Fuel Growth In Retail With A Large Number Of Women Entering The Corporate Workforce Every Year, Retailers Are Employing A Women-Centric Approach To Push Sales. Around 10 Million Urban Women In The Age Group Of 20 To 40 Hold Managerial Jobs In The Country. The Number Is Expected To Increase Fivefold To 50 Million By 2020, According To Technopak Advisor. This Is Bound To Increase Spending, Says Saloni Nangia, Vice President For Retail And Consumer Products At Technopak. Working Women Spend 35 Percent More On Themselves Than Homemakers, Fuelling The Growth Of Various Personal And Wellness Products, Childcare Products And Family Holidays. "The Whole Consumerism Pie Is Increasing Because Of Them," Ms. Nangia Says. Earlier This Year, Planet Retail Transformed Its Men-Focused Department Store Debenhams Into A Women-Focused Outlet By Skewing The Merchandise In Favour Of Women. Source : 09-11-11 Financial Express Compiled by Amresh Anjan
UBS Names India Unit CEO UBS has selected Aashish Kamat as CEO of its India unit. He succeeds Manisha Girotra, who is leaving, and will be in charge of the bank's India business. Mr. Kamat came to UBS in June as chairman from JP Morgan Chase & Co., where he was CFO for Asia. . Source : 09-11-11 Wall Street Journal Compiled by Amresh Anjan
Birlasoft Names CEO Birlasoft, global IT services arm of the CK Birla Group, has selected global sales and marketing head Shan Bala as CEO. Previously, Ms.. Shan was with Satyam Computer services (later known as Mahindra Satyam) as global head of a group of verticals in the retail and CPG, travel, logistics and distribution space.
Source : 09-11-11 Birlasoft.com Compiled by Amresh Anjan
U.S. H1-B Visa Has Fewer Takers One of the most sought-after U.S. visas, the H -1B, has had fewer applicants this year. The H-1B is one of the most popular visa categories for IT professionals, but it is also used by architects, accountant, doctors and college professors. As per the latest update from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, only 50,800 applications have been made against the annual quota of 65,000, which means 14,200 visas remain unused in this year's pool.Prior to 2008, the entire H1-B visa pool would be used up within days. Nasscom Vice-President Ameet Nivsarkar ascribes this to the strong onsite-offshore model of Indian companies and the prevailing unemployment in the U.S. Indian IT companies have evolved a service delivery model that efficiently leverages offshore staff, he says. "Moreover, a high unemployment rate in the U.S. means more Americans are available for tech jobs. So Indian companies are recruiting more locals in the U.S. now," he adds.
Source : 07-11-11 Hindu Business Line Compiled by Amresh Anjan
IIM-B Placement Season Takes Off Amidst the economic blues shaping up in the West there is something to cheer for students in the Indian Institute of Management-Bangalore. IIMB, a premier management school in the south, said its placement season for 2011 was off to a good start.Based on the response from recruiters participating in pre-placement activity as well as summer internships, the institute said placement is back.Some of the heavyweight consulting firms which offered opportunities for IIMB graduates including A T Kearney, Bain & Co., Boston Consulting Group and McKinsey & Co. among others. Other major management consulting firms that have made PPOs so far are Booz & Co., Global e-Procure and Hay Group."This year, the conversion rate for consulting firms was in excess of 90 per cent with a large number of interns being offered permanent positions by these firms. Simultaneously, we are also witnessing a strong demand for summer internships, and pre-placement talks are in full swing," P D Jose, Chairperson, Career Development Services, IIMB, said.
Source : 03-11-11 Business Standard Compiled by Amresh Anjan
Survey Reveals 30% ITI Grads Still Jobless Despite industry having preference from government trained manpower about 30% of the pass-outs failed to get a job in 2009 after getting vocational training from public sector institutes, a government survey has found. The reason, according to a survey done by ministry of labour, says that non-availability of jobs or low salary were the two prime reasons for high unemployment rate in Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs). Most of the trainees were found to be from low-income group with monthly family income of less than Rs 5,000. On the curriculum side, 46 new trades have been added and special courses have been run with the help of the industry to train the trainers. The government has also initiated a scheme - apprenticeship training scheme - to get on field training. The impetus was given to provide adequately trained manpower for the economy growing at over eight percent annual rate.But, many pass-outs found that the industry preferred cheap labour, which was available in abundant in the market and therefore, did not offer them adequate salary. Many of the trainees expressed unhappiness over inadequate stipend, fewer opportunities for learning new skills and involvement of trainees in low end jobs. The survey conducted to assess the nature and quality of training in it is and employability of trainees found that practical training was lacking in the module. Many of the trainers also felt that the syllabus has not been synchronized with the needs of industry.
Source : 11-11-11 Hindustan Times Compiled by Amresh Anjan
India To Have 20% Of World's Workforce In The Next Decade India will account for 20 per cent of the world's global workforce in the 2020s. The average age of Indian workforce will be 29 years as compared to 37 for the US and China and 45 years for Europe, Kapil Sibal, minister for human resource development, communications and IT said at the India Economic Summit 2011 in Mumbai."This is a big challenge for the country and we will need to ensure that the workforce develops different kinds of skills to match the available economic opportunities," said Kapil Sibal. N Chandrasekaran, managing director at Tata Consultancy Services said India would soon have 136 million graduates compared to 23 million in China and 11 million in the US.Panellists at the summit stressed on the need to ensure employability of school and college graduates across a wide range of vocations from manufacturing to construction trade to technology workers.
Source : 14-11-11 Deccan Chronicle Compiled by Amresh Anjan
Service Sector Index At 2-Year Low India's service sector shrank for a second straight month in October, Financial Express reports. The seasonally adjusted HSBC Markit Business Activity Index slumped from49.8 in September to 49.1 in October, its lowest level in two-and-a-half years. The index measures the performance of around 400 firms. New business grew at its weakest pace since May 2009, a fall-out of the sagging global demand and tight monetary policy. India's most closely watched inflation gauge, the wholesale price index, rose 9.72 percent in September on an annual basis, a tad lower than August's 9.78 percent. The survey showed that Indian service providers were more hopeful about the coming year than last month as business expectations saw a rebound. The HSBC Markit Manufacturing PMI for India rebounded in October after remaining static in September. Source : 03-11-11 Financial Express Compiled by Amresh Anjan
Aprimo India Picks Country Manager Aprimo India has hired Gundeep Singh Sandhu as country manager. He will work with Teradata India's team to establish a partnership with Teradata that will help Aprimo grow in the Indian market. Before joining Aprimo Mr. Sandhu was Teradata India national manager for telecom – manufacturing and government.
Source : 13-11-11 Business Wire Compiled by Amresh Anjan
ING To Slash 2,700 Jobs In Dutch Retail Banking Biz Dutch financial services giant ING Group plans to axe 2,700 jobs in its retail banking business in the Netherlands, as part of its cost cutting measures.ING Group will cut 2,700 jobs, including 700 contract workers, at its retail bank in the Netherlands, which would save 300 million euros (USD 412 million) annually from 2014 onwards, it said in a statement . "As income is coming under pressure, we must renew efforts to reduce expenses across the Group to adapt to the leaner environment and maintain our competitive position," Group CEO Jan Hommen said. Financial institutions across the world are laying off employees in their attempts to lower costs.
Source : 03-11-11 Financial Chronicle Compiled by Amresh Anjan
The Naukri Job Speak Index For Oct-11 At 921 Indicates A 16% Dip In New Jobs When Compared To Sep-11 India Inc witnessed a 16% decline in recruitment in Oct-11 when compared to Sep-11, as all key industry sectors and functional areas have witnessed dips in their hiring activity when compared to the previous month. The double digit percentage dip in hiring can be attributed to the festive season spanning across October as well as the uncertainty in the global economic outlook. Barring Telecom sector where hiring picked up by 19% in Oct-11 over Sep-11 and ITES sector which saw a marginal 3% dip in the index, all other sectors saw double digit percentage dips in hiring activity. The index for Auto sector witnessed a 26% dip in Oct-11 when compared to Sep-11, while IT- Software, Pharma, Oil & Gas and Banking saw their hiring activity dip within the range of 13% and 19% respectively during the same time period. When we compare the indices on a year on year basis then ITES, Construction and Oil and Gas sectors saw a negative movement.
Source : 03-11-11 Naukri.com Compiled by Amresh Anjan
HSBC, Nokia, Barclays Plan Huge Job Cuts; Employees In India Largely Spared As companies battle the economic slowdown, the employees at large companies in the U.S. and Europe seem to be facing the axe in a major way.More than 1,35,000 job cuts have been announced by just about a dozen multi-national companies in past few months in their efforts to slash costs and those from the financial services space are among the worst hit. However, the employees in India have largely been spared of these layoffs, although most of these companies have significant presence in the country.Those having announced massive job cuts, running into thousands at each of these companies, include financial service giants like HSBC, Bank of America, Barclays, Credit Suisse and Lloyds Banking Group, as also consumer goods majors such as Whirlpool and Royal Philips Electronics.Besides, mobile handset giant Nokia, BlackBerry maker Research In Motion, drugmaker Merck & Co, aircraft and defense giant Boeing and networking technology major Cisco have also announced large-scale job cuts in their operations.
Source : 06-11-11 Silicon India Compiled by Amresh Anjan
Asian Job Hunters Choosing Temporary Over Permanent Work Contract employment in the professional sector is growing across Asia, and recruiters from Beijing to Singapore say that a more eager workforce paired with mounting demand from employers for short-term labour is giving companies and workers in the region an increasingly competitive edge in the global professional job scene.Temporary jobs in East Asia cities are starting to attract more candidates for more project-based offers, sweetened by the esteem of working for big multinational names."There's a cultural cringe that is slowing it down ... but over time, it will become accepted," said Andrew Banks, founder and chairman of HR and recruitment firm Talent2.According to Korea Labor Institute statistics as of Aug. 2010, the amount of non-regular workers in South Korea has nearly doubled since 2002, accounting for 33.4 per cent of the country's 17.05 million workers, up from 27.4 per cent.Available numbers for the professional sector show there is still a low temporary to permanent jobs ratio in Asia. But evidence shows that both employers and professionals have turned more to contracting since the global financial crisis erupted in the wake of the Lehman Brothers collapse in 2008.Current contract employment uptake in Hong Kong for recruitment firm Robert Walters is 15 per cent against permanent employment, up from zero in 2008.
Source : 06-11-11 DNA Compiled by Amresh Anjan
Engineering Graduates Rejoice! Banks Are Hiring Engineering and technology graduates can look forward to more openings in the banking sector since banks are likely to hire a large number of technology experts.The recruitment would be driven by the increasing focus of banks on attracting young customers and retaining them. The Institute for Development and Research in Banking Technology (IDRBT) estimates that banks would need to hire technology professionals numbering up to about 10-20 per cent of their current workforce.The institute, an arm of the Reserve Bank of India, has studied the customer relationship management process. ``Banks will need to focus on analytics to understand the life-time value of a customer and retaining them.The need can be gleaned from the fact that over 200 million transactions take place in a branch in a month. `To understand the nature of these transactions, banks will need experts in technology, statistics, maths and business analytics.'' Mr Sambamurthy said.
Source : 06-11-11 Hindu Business Line Compiled by Amresh Anjan
Offers Begin Flowing For IIM-B Grads Consulting firms have started making pre-placement offers (PPOs) to students of the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore (IIM-B). The Class of 2012 has received 71 PPOs and requests for 37 pre-placement interviews so far, ahead of the lateral placements scheduled in December and the final placements scheduled for March next year. Firms making the offers include AT Kearney, Bain & Co., Boston Consulting Group, McKinsey & Co., Booze & Co., Global e-Procure and Hay Group. The conversion rate (number of interns being offered jobs) for consulting firms was above 90 percent, the highest so far, said Prof. PD Jose, IIM-B's chairperson, career development services. Most of these offers were for overseas locations such as Abu Dhabi, Dubai, Hong Kong, London and Singapore.
Source : 02-11-11 Hindu Business Line Compiled by Amresh Anjan
MF Global Sify Employees Face Uncertainty Employees at MF Global Sify Securities India are facing an uncertain future with parent MF Global filing for bankruptcy protection . The New York-based firm has listed total debt of $39.7 billion and assets of $41 billion in its Chapter 11 papers. Interactive Brokers Group, a U.S. discount broking firm which entered India in 2009, may buy the assets of MF Global but it is unclear if it would buy out the Indian arm, MFGlobal Sify Securities. The firm is a 70:30 joint venture between MF Global and Nasdaq-listed Chennai-based Sify.More than 1,35,000 job cuts have been announced by about a dozen multinational companies in the past few months. These include financial service giants such as HSBC, Bank of America, Barclays, Credit Suisse and Lloyds Banking Group and consumer goods majors such as Whirlpool and Royal Philips Electronics.
Source : 01-11-11 Financial Chronicle Compiled by Amresh Anjan
Q2 Attrition Levels Down At Wipro Wipro has trimmed its attrition rate to 18.5 percent of the workforce in the second quarter of this financial year. Attrition in the first quarter was 23.2 percent. "Attrition with competition is down by 1.5 percent, while our attrition is down by 4.7 percent, which clearly shows that we are doing something right," said TK Kurien, executive director and CEO, IT business. Wipro's attrition for the 12 months ended September was 21.1 percent, down from 22.6 percent witnessed in the previous quarter. "We think what is comfortable to us is 12 percent to 14 percent. And we are hopeful (of going) below 15 per cent," said Pratik Kumar, vice president HR. The company has linked variable pay to attrition. Recently, 950 people put in their papers, but the company managed to retain 900 of them. Earlier, it would have been the other way around, Mr. Kumar added.
Source : 01-11-11 Hindu Business Line Compiled by Amresh Anjan
IndusInd Bank Hires Global Markets Head U.K. company Hinduja Group-promoted IndusInd Bank has hired Arun Khurana as head of global markets group. Reporting to CEO Romesh Sobti, he replaces Moses Harding, who will now head the asset liability management committee and economic and market research. Khurana was Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS)Singapore's regional head corporate solutions for the Asia-Pacific and also worked with RBS India. BNP Paribas senior executive Rajeev Mahrotri will be head of trading at IndusInd.
Source : 01-11-11 VC Circle Compiled by Amresh Anjan
Indian Engineers In Reverse Migration Mode As many as 3,00,000 Indian engineering professionals are expected to return to India during between 2011 and 2015. Workforce solutions provider Kelly Services India arrived at this conclusion based on the findings of a survey of 1,000 respondents from India and abroad. More and more Indians are lured by the promising opportunities in the country. "For a majority of the reverse migrants, job satisfaction levels in India will outshine their previous overseas jobs within the next two to three years," the report said. "Though 48 percent of respondents who favoured the job satisfaction overseas indicated that the key reason for them was high remuneration,they also indicated that growth opportunities abroad are rather bleak." Only 10 percent respondents believed opportunities abroad were favourable, the report said. Karnataka was the most preferred Indian state to live in, with 88 percent of the reverse migrants opting for it.
Source : 01-11-11 Financial Express Compiled by Amresh Anjan
Taj Group Names Senior VP Taj Group has selected Vice President Marketing Deepa Harris as senior vice-president of sales and marketing. She replaces Ajoy Misra,who is now joining Tata Global Beverages as deputy CEO and executive director on the board. Reporting to Raymond Bickson, managing director, Harris will handle all sales and marketing initiatives for Taj Hotels worldwide. Source : 01-11-11 Hindu Business Line Compiled by Amresh Anjan
Ad Firms Fret Over Digital Talent A talent gap is growing between the skills that many new advertising jobs require and the number of people who have those skills. The dilemma is particularly acute for jobs that require hard-core quantitative, mathematical and technical skills."There is pain for hiring in digital at all levels," said John Ebbert, managing editor of AdExchanger.com, a Web site dedicated to advertising technology."The marketers, the publishers, the ad tech companies, the agencies, data management companies — they're all going for the same type of employee.""The demand has far outstripped the supply," said Joe Zawadzki, the chief executive of MediaMath, an ad tech company in New York. "The number of things you need to know is high and the number of people knowing it is low."
Source : 01-11-11 Hindustan Times Compiled by Amresh Anjan
Convergys Plans Expansion, More Jobs In India Convergys is planning to hire more people in India as the call centre service company aims for growth. The company employs between 11,000 and 12,000 people in its centres in India and has completed 10 years in the country. "The highly skilled workforce here that is technically oriented as well as process-oriented is an absolute must-have for us," said Marife Zamora, managing director for Asia, Pacific, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, customer management. The company added 1,500 jobs in India this year. Convergys derives 85 percent of its revenue from customer management group and the rest comes from the information management group, corporate and other segments. The company has adequate infrastructure in India to handle more work. "We have an active pipeline that we are hunting, "said Nancy Pryor, senior vice president, customer management.
Source : 01-11-11 Financial Chronicle Compiled by Amresh Anjan
Hiring Of Analytical Talent To Rise In 2012: Accenture - SAS Study News Investment in business analytics and analytical talent hiring will rise in 2012, but organisations still have their work cut out for them when it comes to making projects effective and instilling the right analytical culture and skills, reveals new research from consulting and technlogy servies firm Accenture and business analytics software firm SAS.Of the 258 North American business leaders surveyed by the Accenture SAS Analytics Group, 72 per cent indicated they would increase spending on business analytics in 2012 as compared to 2011.
Source : 27-10-11 Domainb.com Compiled by Amresh Anjan
Blackberry India MD Exits Frenny Bawa has stepped down as managing director of the Indian operations of Research In Motion, Canadian maker of the BlackBerry smartphone. She is planning to pursue other opportunities. Urpo Karjalainen, senior vice president for Greater China, India, Australia and New Zealand, replaces Ms. Bawa on an interim basis
Source : 03-11-11 Wall Street Journal Compiled by Amresh Anjan
B-School's Plan To Make Summer Internships Optional Falls Flat The scheme permitting students with some work experience to opt out of the summer internships has found few takers at the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore (IIM-B).The institute recently announced that students with work experience of over 34 months have an option to work on other projects in campus or outside, or pursue other plans during April-May, the period when students usually take up summer internships "but very small number has opted out of internships so far", Ms Sapna Agarwal, Head, Career Development Centre at IIM-B,said. "Students with prior work experience still want to do summer internships," she said.This is the first year this option has been given to them and we have given them time to decide, and we might have a few more opting out, but "there aren't too many," she said.Those who opt out do so because they have other plans like ideate a start-up, or work on a project, and those who have been associated with start-ups might go back there to contribute, Ms Agarwal said. About 25 per cent of the 375 students in the current batch have work experience of over 34 months.Summer internships, for eight weeks during April-May, are otherwise compulsory for all first-year students pursuing the post-graduate programme at IIM-B. They form an important part of the postgraduate programme as several students are made pre-placement offers by the companies they have interned in.
Source : 02-11-11 Hindu Business Line Compiled by Amresh Anjan
Companies Tap HR Firms For Appraisals Several companies such as PepsiCo, Essar Group, Hindustan Unilever and Punj Lloyd have hired external HR consultants for annual performance reviews of their employees. It serves a dual objective. One, in-house HR teams get equipped with external tools of assessment. Two, it eliminates biases and prejudices that may creep into an in-house appraisal. Essar Group has hired U.K.-based Saville & Holdsworth to help with the appraisal process. "Our internal assessment and third-party assessment are given equal weightage when it comes to taking a final decision on an employee's performance," says Adil Malia, president, HR. External assessment is usually done for middle-and senior-level management positions, which is where it matters more, he adds. "Third-party assessment is a little more transparent than internal assessment for promotion, recession planning or career development planning of employees," says Ajay Soni, regional practice leader, Asia-Pacific, Aon Hewitt Consulting.
Source : 03-11-11 Financial Express Compiled by Amresh Anjan
Manufacturing To Contribute 25 % Of GDP ; Create 100 Million Jobs Within A Decade The Union Cabinet gave its approval to the long-awaited ambitious National Manufacturing Policy (NMP), which seeks to set up mega industrial zones, create 100 million jobs by 2022 and put India at par with manufacturing powers like China and Japan."The NMP seeks to enhance the share of manufacturing in the GDP to 25 per cent within a decade and create 100 million jobs in manufacturing as part of the inclusive growth agenda of the UPA,'' an elated Commerce and Industry Minister, Anand Sharma said after the Cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh. Ruling out any kind of subsidies for units operating in these manufacturing zones, the newly approved policy states that to encourage the manufacturing sector, the government will provide fiscal incentives to the industry, particularly to the small and medium enterprises (SMEs). Source : 25-10-11 The Hindu Compiled by Amresh Anjan
ILO Sees Unemployment Growing, Sparking Unrest Unemployment looks set to grow around the globe well into the present decade, sparking increasing public protest especially in Europe and the Middle East, the International Labour Organisation (ILO) said .In its annual World of Work Report, the United Nations agency said the global economy was on the verge of a new and deeper jobs recession and warned that austerity policies adopted by many countries would only make the situation worse."The next few months will be crucial for avoiding a dramatic downturn in employment and a further significant aggravation of social unrest," said main author Raymond Torres in an editorial comment in the report.
Source : 01-11-11 Reuters.com Compiled by Amresh Anjan
No Let-Up In Hiring By Top IT Majors Despite Macro Weakness There seems to be no slowdown in the hiring momentum of large IT players and their ranks continue to swell in spite of the global macroeconomic weakness in Western markets.The top three listed Indian IT companies now employ an aggregate 4.9 lakh professionals, over 18 per cent higher than the year ago count. The combined headcount for these top companies – TCS, Infosys and Wipro – for quarter ended September is 5.6 per cent higher than the preceding three months."We have seen a positive trend in hiring by large IT companies," said Ms Annamma Renu, Manager (IT Practice) of Elixir, a recruitment consulting firm.
Source : 31-10-11 Hindu Business Line Compiled by Amresh Anjan
Kingfisher Delays Salaries For Second Consecutive Month After defaulting on payments to airports and oil companies, Kingfisher Airlines Ltd has delayed salary payments for the second consecutive month.India's second largest carrier by passengers suffered a loss of Rs.1,027 crore in the year ended 31 March, by when it had accumulated Rs.7,057.08 crore in debt.Salaries are typically credited to the accounts of its employees on the 7th day of every month. They are yet to be credited this month; last month, they were credited only by the 18th."No one really knows or cares," said a Kingfisher executive, asking not to be named. "What annoys (me) is not that salary is delayed, but (there is) no communication, because communicating that salary will be delayed will lead to people seeking answers as to who is responsible for the mess."
Source : 13-10-11 Mint Compiled by Amresh Anjan
International Retailers Go Slow On Hiring Plans Foreign retailers have put their hiring plans for proposed multi-brand outlets in India on hold. Sensing the government's mood, executive search companies said, these retailers had slowed down their hiring initiatives. Hiring firms call India an interesting market, but agree retail is a different game. Preety Kumar, managing partner (India) of Amrop, said that the hiring activity was quite little among foreign retailers. "We have met most of these clients. But none of them have put forth a clear plan," she said. "Hiring plans of foreign retailers at this point are itsy-bitsy and there's nothing mega about it," said Ms Kumar. "I'm sure they have a plan, but not ready to execute, as they are waiting for clarity in regulation to operate in India."
Source : 31-10-11 Business Standard Compiled by Amresh Anjan
Maruti Strike A Warning Signal To Industry Worker-management disputes such as the strike at Maruti Suzuki India may spill into other sectors as well, if not checked. Capital goods and chemicals manufacturers, for instance, employ a large number of contract labour at low wages and urgently need skilled people. As it is more difficult to fire permanent staff under the law, industries recruit contract workers at lower pay. Their unequal benefits often lead to hostility between permanent and contract staff. Labour trouble in manufacturing occurs due to the high percentage (60 percent to 90 percent) of contract workers hired usually through middlemen/contractors. If this large section of the workforce goes on a strike, work at the plant can come to a total halt, said Abdul Majeed, partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers India. The management needs to open communication channels with the workforce, else the problem will start erupting in other sectors as well, Mr. Majeed said.
Source : 31-10-11 Hindu Business Line Compiled by Amresh Anjan
100% Of JBIMS's 2013 Batch Get Summer Jobs The summer placement season at Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies (JBIMS) was marked by bigger and better offers this year. The highest domestic stipend for a two-month internship jumped from Rs 1.5 lakh last year to Rs 2 lakh this year. The average domestic stipend rose from Rs 72,000 to Rs 89,000 this year, a Rs 17,000 rise."We had our apprehensions because of the state of the economy, but we bucked the trend," said Ankit Rampuria, a placement committee member at JBIMS.The entire batch of 120 students was placed with the 79 companies visiting the campus. The largest number of students, 38 percent, was placed in banking, financial insurance services and investment banking, followed by consumer goods and pharma at 28 percent and consultancy at 17 percent.
Source : 25-10-11 Hindustan Times Compiled by Amresh Anjan
Oracle To Ramp Up India Count By 3,500 California-headquartered Oracle oannounced plans to hire 3,500 professionals in India by May 2012. The company currently employs around 21,000 people in India The initiative by Oracle, which develops software and manages database systems for corporations, comes in the wake of rapid growth of its businesses in India.The company will recruit at all levels ranging from graduates to senior sales professionals and technical consultants. "Our hiring plans in India are in sync with our business growth," said Sandeep Mathur, managing director, Oracle India.With the new hires, Oracle expects to have the right mix of talent, skills and attitude that would help expedite it's growth.The company had last week announced plans to hire 600 in China and 1,700 people across Europe last month.
Source : 20-10-11 Hindustan Times Compiled by Amresh Anjan
TCS On Hiring Spree, Adds 20,000 Staff Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) said that for the first time in its history it has added 20,349 staffs, including freshers and laterals, during the July-September quarter 2011.According to Ajoy Mukherjee, TCS executive vice president and global head – Human Resources, the company hiring over 20,000 people for the second quarter is the highest in the TCS history and the hiring guidance of 60,000 for this fiscal is very much on target.The company was able to lower its attrition rate to 13.7 per cent for the second quarter, which was 14.8 per cent in the previous quarter. "There are two factors that lowered attrition -employee engagement and seasonality of attrition. Attrition will be higher in the first quarter compared to second," Mr. Mukherjee commented.
Source : 18-10-11 CIOL.com Compiled by Amresh Anjan
Rolls Royce Enhances Focus In India With Appointment Of New Business Development Head Rolls Royce Motor Cars, a UK based fully owned subsidiary of the luxury car maker BMW appointed Herfried Hasenoehrl as firm`s Business Development Head for India, Bangladesh and Sri Lankan markets. Herfried Hasenoehrl has been associated with the parent group BMW group, holding the responsibility of senior manager for the brand in Thailand and Munich. He was also responsible for product and price management during these operations.
Source : 28-10-11 Cartradeindia.com Compiled by Amresh Anjan
TE Connectivity Appoints India Operations Chief TE Connectivity Ltd. recently announced the appointment of V Raja as President of TE Connectivity, India, effective October 7, 2011. According to a press release, in his new role, Raja will continue to build the company's team and operations in India, and serve as TE's executive leader with government officials and customers in India. Mr. Raja will report to Joe Donahue, TE's Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer. Source : 28-10-11 interconnectionworld.comCompiled by Amresh Anjan
Whirlpool To Slash Over 5,000 Jobs In North America, Europe Home appliance maker Whirlpool plans to reduce its workforce by more than 5,000 people in North America and Europe, as a result of which about 10 percent of jobs would be eliminated in these regions."The company's cost and capacity reduction plans include a workforce reduction of more than 5,000 positions primarily within North America and Europe (approximately a 10 percent workforce reduction in those regions)," said a Whirlpool source. Whirlpool, which has a significant presence in India, said in a statement that the planned job cuts would include a reduction of about 1,200 salaried positions. Source : 28-10-11 Zee News Compiled by Amresh Anjan
Turner Appoints Vivek Bahl As Chief Content Officer Turner International has appointed Vivek Bahl as Chief Content Officer, a newly created position. He will be joining from November 1, 2011, and will be based in Turner's Mumbai office. He will report to Mark Eyers, Chief Content Officer, Turner Broadcasting System Asia Pacific.Mr. Bahl will oversee the content strategy and development of Turner's diverse portfolio of entertainment brands in India including Imagine TV, Cartoon Network, POGO and WB. He will be responsible for all aspects of Turner's entertainment content and oversee the acquisition, development, production, program scheduling and operations supported by Turner's strong content teams across each brand.
Source : 28-10-11 Bestmediainfo.com Compiled by Amresh Anjan
Novartis To Cut Jobs In Switzerland And U.S., Add In China Novartis AG, Europe's second-biggest pharmaceutical company, plans to eliminate 2,000 jobs in Switzerland and the U.S. and add employees in China and India to offset the effect of drug price reductions. The cuts, equivalent to about 1 percent of Novartis's workforce, will be implemented over three to five years, and will generate annual savings of more than $200 million a year, the Basel, Switzerland-based Company said in a statement today. Novartis plans to close a plant in Nyon, Switzerland, that makes over-the-counter drugs, and chemical sites in Basel and Torre, Italy. The company will take a fourth-quarter restructuring charge of about $300 million.
Source : 25-10-11 Sanfrancisco Chronicle.com Compiled by Amresh Anjan
Tata Global Beverages Appoints Director Tata Global Beverages Limited has informed the Exchange that the Board of Directors of the Company at its meeting held on October 28, 2011, inter alia, has decided to appoint Mr. Ajoy Misra as a Director and Executive Director on the Board of the Company for a period of five years with effect from November 01, 2011.
Source : 31-10-11 Moneycontrol.com Compiled by Amresh Anjan
India Inc's Expat Hiring Up 20 pc So Far This Year With hiring activities in most Western economies in deep freeze, more and more foreigners, mostly from the US and Europe, are looking at India for jobs, a trend that has resulted in an up to 20 per cent jump in expat hiring this year, according to headhunters. According to industry estimates, there are as many as 40,000 expats working in various industries across the country today. "Hiring of expats has picked up by 15-20 per cent at all levels since last year, mainly on account of India being one of the fastest growing economies, offering huge job opportunities," recruitment process outsourcing firm Elixir's Consulting Manager for International Practices, Ratnesh Kumar said.
Source : 10-10-11 IBN Live.com Compiled by Amresh Anjan
Survey: Services Sector Shrank In Sept The services sector contracted in September as new orders fell, as per a survey of 350 private sector executives. Employment levels fell for the second successive month owing to a virtual stagnation in overall economic activity. The seasonally adjusted Service Sector Business Activity Index fell from 53.8 in August to 49.8 in September, the HSBC Purchasing Managers Index showed. A drop below 50 indicates contraction, while a rise above 50 indicates improved economic activity. This is the first time since April 2009 that the services sector has recorded negative growth. The decline could be attributed to lower demand for offshoring and IT and ITeS from the U.S. and in Europe, where several economies are facing debt problems. Financial services have also been affected as banking activity has slowed on account of higher interest rates.
Source : 06-10-11 Financial Express Compiled by Amresh Anjan
Skilled Indians May Have To Wait For 70 Years For US Green Card! Professionally qualified Indians may have to wait as long as 70 years to get their Green Card in the US, a new study has said, amid growing concerns that the current country-specific quota policy poses a major hurdle in attracting talent from countries such as India and China."Our system for allowing employers to sponsor skilled foreign nationals for permanent residence (a Green Card) is plagued by inadequate quotas that result in years of waiting and frustration," the Washington-based National Foundation for American Policy (NFAP) said in a report.An October 2011 NFAP study analysed the employment-based Green Card backlog and produced findings that should give pause to policymakers. The study concluded: "A highly skilled Indian national sponsored today for an employment-based immigrant visa in the third preference could wait potentially 70 years to receive a Green Card."Many skilled foreign nationals from China have been waiting six to seven years and can expect to wait additional years, it said.
Source : 06-10-11 Hindu Business Line Compiled by Amresh Anjan
B-Schools Cheer Return Of Companies Most private institutes say they are in for a good season with offers for summer jobs picking up, despite fears of a global slowdown and job cuts. Top private B-schools have reasons to cheer with the summer internship scenario hotting up. Institutes have managed to rope in big players from both domestic and international companies across the spectrum, despite the slowdown fears."We began our summer placements last week. We are focussing more on engaging companies on campus through leadership talks or case study activities this year. This gives the companies a chance to visit the campus and engage with the students in live projects and assess them. It is proving to be a better tool," said a placement committee member from the Bhubaneshwar-based Xavier Institute of Management (XIM-B).Last year, the institute had invited 60 companies on campus, but this year the number has swelled to keep pace with the growing number of students per batch — from 180 last year to 240 students this year.Most B-schools begin summer placements in October, and the seven top institutes Business Standard spoke to said during the current season the response to summer placements has been good, in spite of the fact that batch sizes have increased between 15 and 20 per cent. B-schools have also been very aggressive, evolving new strategies to woo companies.
Source : 06-10-11 Business Standard Compiled by Amresh Anjan
Lay-Offs See Execs Running For 'Job-Loss Cover' With lay-offs increasing, many employees are opting for a "job loss" insurance to help them tide over the period they remain unemployed. Insurance companies are offering this cover with variations. ICICI Lombard General Insurance pays three equated monthly instalments (EMIs) in the event of a loss of job as part of its Secure Mind policy.Bajaj Allianz General Insurance and HDFC Ergo General Insurance offer similar options. "At present we offer this cover to a select customer segment, which is primarily the home-loan takers. Presently, it is offered to salaried persons who have been laid off due to mergers and acquisitions," says TA Ramalingam, head underwriting, Bajaj Allianz. Bharti AXA General Insurance plans to offer it as an add-on to its health insurance products. The Ministry of Labour and Employment has estimated the unemployment rate at 9.4 percent of the labour force, or around 40 million
Source : 06-10-11 Hindu Business Line Compiled by Amresh Anjan
Aon Hewitt Appoints MD For India Aon Hewitt has appointed Pavan Bhalla as executive vice president and managing director for India. He will be responsible for the outsourcing and technology businesses of Aon Hewitt in India. Bhalla replaces Arjun Singh who is leaving the firm. He will report to Kristi Savacool, CEO of Aon Hewitt. Before that, he was CFO at Harris Interactive, a custom market research firm.
Source : 07-10-11 Aonhewitt.com Compiled by Amresh Anjan
TATA Steel Appoints HR Chief P Senthil Kumar has been appointed as Chief Human Resource Officer at Tata Steel, in the level IL1. He will operate from Jamshedpur and report to H. M Nerurkar, Managing Director, Tata Steel Limited.Welcoming P. Senthil Kumar, H.M Nerurkar, MD Tata Steel said "It gives me immense pleasure to announce P Senthil Kumar as Chief Human Resource Officer. On behalf of the Tata Steel family, I welcome him whole-heartedly and wish him the very best" Source : 07-10-11 Indiainfoline.com Compiled by Amresh Anjan
Nasscom Reiterates 16-18% Growth Estimate In IT Sector Industry body Nasscom has maintained its estimate of 16 percent to 18 percent growth in the IT sector, terming the outlook as positive. Nasscom President Som Mittal has dismissed the term "recession" to describe the times, saying the situation can only be described as "uncertain" at best. The resilience of the industry can be seen in software exports which were $1 billion in 1990. The figure jumped to $8.2 billion between 1990 and 2000 and increased seven fold to $75 billion the decade after. "Uncertain" times will also result in U.S. and European companies looking to offshore even more work. Deals are happening as companies look to move applications to cloud, mobile and social media platforms, Mr. Mittal added. Source : 05-10-11 Hindu Business Line Compiled by Amresh Anjan
Lay-Off Fear Creeps In As Major Operators Opt For Organisational Rejig A recent wave of restructuring at Bharti Airtel, Reliance Communications and Tata Teleservices has resulted in large-scale layoffs. Bharti Airtel laid off several hundred employees as it realigned its India and South Asia operations. It recently combined various segments, including mobile and digital TV,into two separate business units.Reliance Communications has merged its three business divisions, a move which could render 700 employees jobless. A reorganization of its wireless business is aimed at improving the ratio of front-end staff to back-end staff from 60-40 to 75-25. Tata Teleservices too has set out to merge its CDMA and GSM businesses, which could result in reassigning of functions internally and some attrition.All three operators have invested heavily in securing licenses for 3G airwaves, a technology that has found few takers.
Source : 04-10-11 Hindu Business Line Compiled by Amresh Anjan
QX To Hire 250 People In India UK-based outsourcing service provider Quality and Excellence (QX) said that it would be hiring 250 people in India in next one year as it aims to double its operational capacity here."We will be hiring close to 250 people in India in next one year as we aim to double our operational capacity here," company spokesperson Shomindra Chakravarti said.The UK headquartered company providing high-end Financial and Accounting (F&A) services has diversified into new verticals like Recruitment Process Outsourcing and IT Solutions and has a workforce of over 250 individuals presently.
Source : 04-10-11 Financial Express Compiled by Amresh Anjan
Electronics Policy Eyes 28 Million Jobs By '20 India is looking to generate $400 billion in revenue from the electronic manufacturing sector by 2020. The proposed National Policy of Electronics 2011, which will involve an investment of $100 billion, aims to create 28 million jobs in this decade. A draft of the policy released by the information technology department proposes to set up more than 200 electronic manufacturing clusters, and create a 10-year stable tax regime for the electronics systems and design manufacturing industry (ESDM). The policy will aim at creating linkages between the domestic ESDM industry and strategic sectors such as defence, atomic energy and space for long-term partnerships.
Source : 03-10-11 Livemint Compiled by Amresh Anjan
Nokia India MD To Head 90 Countries Announcing restructuring of its global sales network, Finnish mobile phone maker Nokia said its India head D Shivakumar has been promoted to head business in around 90 countries across the Middle-east, the African region and India." Mr. Shivakumar has done an exceptional job in India. He brings the best of talent from the India market. We would like to capitalise on his experience and capability that he has and bring it to the Middle-East and the African region," Nokia Corporation Executive Vice President (Sales) Colin Giles told reporters. Mr. Shivakumar took over Nokia in India amid rising competition from other low-cost phone makers, especially Chinese. Besides, the company faced intense competition in the smart phone segment from companies such as Samsung, Apple and BlackBerry. The company had seen erosion in its market share from about 75 per cent a few years ago to about 39 per cent overall, according to some estimates.
Source : 03-10-11 Financial Express Compiled by Amresh Anjan
Google Remains Most Attractive Employer Internet search giant Google has been ranked as the best company to work for by management and engineering graduates in two separate surveys, which term the company the world's "most attractive employer" of 2011.According to the survey conducted by global employer branding firm Universum, Google has been ranked at the top of its 2011 list of the top 50 global businesses and engineering companies to work for -- the third year in a row.The search giant has been dubbed the most attractive employer by more than 160,000 people from Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Russia, Spain, the UK and US looking for the right place to work.
Source : 03-10-11 Financial Express Compiled by Amresh Anjan
E-Commerce Firms Optimistic, Hire More Internet companies eager to cash in on the booming e-commerce space are hiring aggressively. Professionals are being hired across categories such as technology, content, back-end supply chain and customer care. Yebhi.com, a fashion and shopping portal, began the year with 150-200 employees and has already scaled up to 800. It plans to reach 1,200 to 1,400 by March.Naaptol.com, which allows visitors on its site to compare prices and shop online, is planning to add 400 employees to its existing 1,000.E-commerce companies are not the only ones talking expansion. Quikr.com, an online classifieds company, is looking at taking in more than a hundred employees in the next one year. The Internet and Mobile Association of India estimates that the net commerce market size in India will grow 47 percent and touch Rs 46,520 crore by the end of 2011.
Source : 02-10-11 Hindu Business Line Compiled by Amresh Anjan
New President of Bombay Commodity Exchange Mr. Jitesh N. Nisar has been elected the President of Bombay Commodity Exchange Ltd at the 84th annual general meeting held last week. Mr Kaushal P. Chheda has been elected Vice-President; Mr Anil H. Chheda Director Finance and Mr Mahendra D. Chheda Director-Administration.
Source : 04-10-11 Hindu Business Line Compiled by Amresh Anjan
Mcdonalds To Expand, Hire More McDonald's India is planning to expand and increase its headcount in the western and southern regions. As part of the drive, the company will be hiring around 7,000 people, inclusive of store management. Hardcastle Restaurants, recently appointed development licensee by McDonald's Corp., has been empowered to develop the brand, Hardcastle Vice Chairman Amit Jatia said. McDonald's will be creating well over 10,000 jobs for local people in the next two to three years, he added. Around 50 percent of the recruitment will be for south India. "These will be at the restaurant levels, for crew members at various McDonald's outlets across the region," he added. McDonald's is gearing up with many HR initiatives. The company has also tied up with specialised institutions to provide specific training and skills in spoken English, store management and retail.
Source : 02-10-11 Deccan Herald Compiled by Amresh Anjan
Anz To Freeze Salary Of Most Top Officials Australia and New Zealand Banking Group, has frozen pay for most of its top executives, according to a company memo, as it struggles to cut costs in a challenging operating environment.ANZ Chief Executive Michael Smith in a memo to staff said there would be only a very limited salary increase budget of 1 percent for the top 900 executives as part of the 2011 performance and remuneration review.
Source : 11-10-11 Reuters.com Compiled by Amresh Anjan
Vikas Khattar Is Head Of Global Capital Markets, Morgan Stanley India Global financial services firm Morgan Stanley has appointed Vikas Khattar as a managing director and head of global capital markets in India. In his new role, Mr. Khattar will handle the firm's equity and debt capital markets businesses. He will report to Crawford Jamieson and George Taylor, Hong Kong based co-heads of global capital markets in Asia Pacific."With over fifteen years of industry and client experience and having executed over a hundred transactions, we believe Vikas will be a key asset to the firm in further strengthening our successful capital markets franchise in India. Our commitment to client servicing combined with top-class expertise and knowledge, will continue to differentiate us in the industry," said George Taylor.
Source : 03-10-11 VC Circle Compiled by Amresh Anjan
